Are U.S. Corporations Screwing the Country?

Think about this – Bain Capital ALONE diverted fees into investments which denied Medicare $20 MILLION in taxes and the Federal Treasury of $200 MILLION. And in 2009, 40 percent of the 35 buyout firms based in the United States, used the same tactic. Now, tell me again WHY Medicare is unsustainable and WHY we have such a large national deficit? It couldn’t be because these rich assholes do anything and everything they can to keep it that way, could it?

What do you want to bet that these same guys view themselves as great patriots?

Financial Firms Face Subpoenas on Tax Strategy

The New York attorney general is investigating whether some of the nation’s biggest private equity firms have abused a tax strategy in order to slice hundreds of millions of dollars from their tax bills, according to executives with direct knowledge of the inquiry.

The attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, has in recent weeks subpoenaed more than a dozen firms seeking documents that would reveal whether they converted certain management fees collected from their investors into fund investments, which are taxed at a far lower rate than ordinary income.

The tax strategy — which is viewed as perfectly legal by some tax experts, aggressive by others and potentially illegal by some — came to light last month when hundreds of pages of Bain’s internal financial documents were made available online. The financial statements show that at least $1 billion in accumulated fees that otherwise would have been taxed as ordinary income for Bain executives had been converted into investments producing capital gains, which are subject to a federal tax of 15 percent, versus a top rate of 35 percent for ordinary income. That means the Bain partners saved more than $200 million in federal income taxes and more than $20 million in Medicare taxes.

[snip]

The tax strategy used by Bain and other firms to convert management fees — the compensation normally taxed as ordinary income — into capital gains is known as a “management fee waiver.” The strategy is widely used within the industry: 40 percent of the 35 buyout firms based in the United States surveyed in 2009 by Dow Jones said their partners used at least some of the firm’s fees to make investments in their funds.

This country is one huge illusion! it’s not a democracy I’m not convinced it ever was. Corporacy have bought both parties period! republicans have completely sold their souls to the devil and the democratic party doesn’t even have all democrats as members! Blue dog dems are nothing more than republicans with a (D) in front of their name!

I certainly can’t argue that Blue Dog Dems are Democrats in name only. And yes, both parties have sold out to corporate interests far more than a Democracy should allow, in my opinion. Here’s what it boils down to for me….I vote for the party platform as much as anything. I support a woman’s right to choose, I support social programs that the Republicans want to decimate, I support equal pay for women and I support gay marriage. I don’t vote Democratic because I think Democrats are perfect or even close to it, I vote (most of the time) Democratic because the belief system and platform of the Republican Party is repugnant to me.